EPA’s STAR Grants Program

Presentation for CFARE/NAAEA Preconference

Montreal, CAJuly 26,2003

Will WheelerU.S. EPA, ORD/NCER

wheeler.william@epa.gov

Overview

• Basics at EPA• Research Strategy & associated

RFAs• Grants process• Tips for success

STAR Grants

• Science to Achieve Results: grants and fellowships– Open competitions and peer review

• National Center for Environmental Research (NCER)– Part of Office of Research & Development– http://www.epa.gov/ncer/– Announcements:

http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_list/elists/

EPA Offices Involved• Other offices assist with planning,

solicitations, and reviewing grants• National Center for Environmental

Economics (NCEE)– Part of Office of Policy, Economics, &

Innovation– Coordinate research activities– Home page: http://www.epa.gov/ncee– Announcements list:

http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/pages/announce

Other EPA Offices

• Rest of ORD– Four other labs and centers– Coordinate research programs

• Most other offices have some involvement– Clients– Media Offices (Water, Air, Solid Waste,

Pesticides & Toxics)– Chief Financial Officer, Enforcement and

Compliance Assurance, Environmental Information

– Regional Offices

Economics Solicitations

• Request for Applications (RFAs)• Several subject areas per year

– Valuation for Environmental Policy– Market Mechanisms and Incentives– Corporate Environmental Behavior– Other occasional solicitations

• Each subject area runs a few years/takes a break

Decision Sciences

• Component of (former) Decision-Making and Valuation RFA– Joint with National Science Foundation– Topic areas split

• Under review at National Academy of Sciences (due April 2004)

• Will not resume before review

Economics ResearchStrategy

• Will define areas of focus for economics research at EPA

• Interviews with 21 offices• Currently at Science Advisory Board for

peer review• Available at

http://es.epa.gov/ncer/events/news/2003/06_23_03a.html

Strategy—Next Steps

• State of the Science Reports to identify key research gaps

• Plan internal and external research• NCER will produce multi-year plan

for future RFAs– Specific topics within each broad area– Long-term questions– Practical and “pure” research

Strategy Priorites

• Ecological and Health Valuation• Environmental (Compliance)

Behavior and Decision-making• Market Mechanisms and Incentives• Benefits of Environmental

Information Disclosure

Valuation

• Valuation for Environmental Policy RFA (January)

• Merger of two previous solicitations– Decision-Making and Valuation– Valuation of Children’s Health

• Ecological and Human Health both came out high

Valuation Directions

• Human Health Valuation– Morbidity, children’s health, mortality

• Ecological Valuation• Two focus areas

– Widely applicable or transferable values• Use of indicators

– Improving accuracy of benefit transfer

Market Mechanisms and Incentives

• Market Mechanisms and Incentives RFA (planned March, opened July, closes October 22)

• Trading in practice and trading in new contexts

• Apply lessons learned from existing markets to new or redesigned markets

Environmental Behavior

• Corporate Environmental Behavior RFA (planned July, probably October)

• Surprise” of strategy• How entities make process, disposal,

and location decisions• Perceptions of costs• Reactions to interventions (voluntary

and information programs)

Benefits of Information Disclosure

• Proposed new RFA• Examine benefits of information

disclosure rules such as Toxics Release Inventory, Consumer Confidence Reports

Grants Process

• Write solicitation• Announced on NCEE & NCER web

pages and email lists, RESECON• Three levels of review

– (External) Peer Review – (Internal) Programmatic Review – (Internal) NCER Director

Peer Review• Interdisciplinary panel of external

reviewers• Evaluate

– Originality and creativity of proposal– Qualifications of PI(s)– Availability/adequacy of equipment – Responsiveness of proposal– Appropriateness/adequacy of budget

• Five-point scale: “very good” or “excellent” proposals move to relevancy review

Relevancy Review

• Interdisciplinary panel of EPA economists and other scientists

• NCEE, ORD (not NCER), media programs and other offices,Regions participate

• Evaluate relevance to program priorities

NCER Director

• Final decision• Inputs:

– Reviews– Portfolio—research gaps– Priorities (plan, Administrator)– Available budget (how much?)

Tips for Success--General

• Average success rate of 12%-15%– Depends on solicitation and funding

• Fund about half of proposals that pass peer review

• DON’T CRAM– Solicitations are open for 3+ months– Research plan will be on website– Look at previous solicitations and abstracts

of successful proposals

Tips for Success—Process

• Follow instructions (NCER’s Guidance page) and read FAQs– http://es.epa.gov/ncer/guidance/

• Six characteristics of successful proposals– Responsiveness, scale, simplicity,

clarity, knowledge of the subject matter, appropriate expertise

Six Characteristics (1)

• Responsive• Scale

– Budget within maximum– Appropriate scale and complexity

• Simplicity– Focus on approximately one to three

research objectives

Six Characteristics (2)

• Clarity– Explicitly state hypotheses, data, and

analytic (econometric) tools– Focused, not vague

• Knowledge of the subject matter– Be up-to-date

• Appropriate expertise